Ashes And Ice Arise

Samantha McLean is a living bomb, and her chaotic, untamable magic is the only thing keeping the soul-devouring Withering from consuming the last Fae kingdom. Lord Sebastian Henderson, the icy ruler of Silverwood, sees her not as a person, but as an unstable asset-a necessary evil to be caged and controlled. Bound by a desperate bargain, this unwilling alliance between a force of nature and a master of control is a powder keg waiting for a spark. Desperate for a solution that will tame her and save his home, Sebastian drags Samantha to the glittering, treacherous city of Aquarian. But the city's promised salvation is a gilded lie, and its ruler is a serpent in silk robes. Forced into the deadly Sovereign's Gauntlet, Samantha discovers the tournament is a horrifying ritual, a machine designed to harvest the very souls of its champions. To survive, she must embrace the chaos within, even if it means shattering the foundations of the city and revealing a truth more terrifying than any monster. The victory is ashes in her mouth. The entire war was a diversion, a brilliant, brutal feint. While they were trapped in deadly games, the true enemy captured the one thing Samantha would burn the world down to protect-her sister. Now, with their kingdoms on the brink and their trust forged in fire and betrayal, the ice lord and the chaos witch must forge a new, desperate alliance. The mission is no longer to save the world, but to rescue one girl. And they will carve a path of ice and fire through anyone who stands in their way.

A magical plague is turning the world to ash. For Natalie Quinn, a pragmatic herbalist, this creeping decay is a terrifying reality as it consumes her sister, Ella. The Withering is no normal sickness; it is a soul-blight that drains life itself, and Natalie's remedies are like trying to stop a flood with a handful of sand. When a healer's diagnosis confirms the disease is a curse beyond human skill, Natalie realizes that to fight magic, she will need magic of her own. Desperate, she makes an unthinkable choice: to seek aid from the one power great enough to contend with this darkness-the feared and immortal Eldrin of Thornfrost. In their frozen, hostile kingdom, she must bargain with the cold and calculating Winter Regent, a being of immense power and chilling pragmatism. To save her sister, Natalie trades her freedom for a pact bound in blood and shadow, becoming an asset in a war she is only beginning to understand. But the Withering is not a random blight; it is a hunt. An ancient, powerful sorcerer known as the Unraveler seeks Ella's unique life-giving magic, the key he needs to shatter his ancient prison and unmake reality itself. Plunged into a cosmic conflict between primordial forces of order and chaos, Natalie discovers a wild, untamed power awakening within herself. Now, she must forge an alliance with her captors, master her own destructive abilities, and become the weapon the world needs to stop the coming of the endless dust.